The European Commission said today, in response to a question from APM, that Greece has until Nov. 2 to submit a new, improved action plan that satisfactorily addresses its concerns about the operation of the OPEKEPE. At the same time, Ballas Uzvari, the spokesman for agricultural affairs, noted that “so far the Greek authorities have complied” with what the Commission has requested, and there is no reason to suspend funding.

Specifically, asked about the letter from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development to the Greek authorities that was leaked to the Greek press, the spokesman for agricultural issues replied that this is an issue concerning OPEKEPE and dates back to September 2024. “At that time, the Commission carried out an audit and we identified serious concerns about the way the Greek organisation OPEKEPE was operating and because of this, we requested an action plan specifically to address this situation,” he said, adding that “the Greek authorities started working on an action plan, which they submitted at the beginning of June 2025.” The Commission subsequently examined the plan in detail and in early August replied again to the Greek authorities “expressing concerns” because it was “not fully satisfied” with the response it had received. The Commission “explained very well” in its letter “how we expect the Greek authorities to further improve the action plan,” B. Uzvari said.

The Greek authorities “have two months to respond,” the same Commission spokesman said, adding that “while we await this updated action plan from the Greek authorities, in the meantime there are good contacts between the two sides.” B. Uzvari also explained that “so far the Greek authorities have complied with what we have requested from the competent authority procedurally” and the Commission has no reason to believe otherwise in this case as well. “We have no reason to assume that the updated action plan will not reach us in time,” the Commission spokesman said. He noted, however, that “in principle, if an action plan is not submitted on time, it could potentially lead to a suspension of funding.”

Regarding the integration of OPEKEPE into the Hellenic Independent Public Revenue Authority (Hellenic ADEA), the Commission confirmed that, at the request of the Greek authorities, the Commission decided to grant a six-month extension, until the beginning of March, to allow time for the action plan to be agreed upon. As B. Uzvari said, this “is part of the discussions and is an ongoing issue.”

It should be noted that Greece was originally given a deadline to submit a new, improved action plan by October 2, but due to the August holidays, the deadline was pushed back to November 2.